The innocent embroidery sampler has developed a serious attitude in recent years. One website – subversivecrossstitch.com – features samplers with messages such as “You lie like a cheap rug” and other less printable adages. Visual artist Niamh White has been researching how this very feminine artform developed over the centuries and wants contemporary Irish women to get involved.

“Many women learned to write through the medium . . . samplers were often used as notebooks and as a way to make public very private parts of these women’s lives,” she says. “Before they were married, women would often incorporate their maiden names into the work and they were passed down as a maternal legacy.”As part of what she hopes will be a national “maternal legacy” project, White is inviting women to create their own samplers, a “running thread that picks up fragments and extracts from your life”. At her weekly Stitch Sisters gatherings, participants can learn how to cross stitch their own textiles. The sessions take place at Airfield Overend Cafe, Dundrum, Dublin 14, where White is artist-in-residence, every Thursday at 11am, and admission is free. More information from niamhwhite.com or tel: 01-2984301. No stitching experience necessary.